Christmas Fun
by daynaa
Summary: Here is just some Christmas fun, fluff, Sandle fic. Maybe WarrickCath as well
1. Chapter 1

A/N: First Sandle fic, just wrote it for some fluffy Christmas fun! I hope everyone had a great Christmas! There should only be a maximum of three chapters on this story… I was attempting to make it a oneshot type of thing, but I failed. Ohwell, I really think this isn't that great, I actually think it sucks haha, but it's just something I wanted to write to get more into the holiday mood.

Disclaimer: Don't own anything. I wish! I didn't get CSI for Christmas, unfortunately.  haha.

----------

"I can't believe Christmas is tomorrow!" Greg exclaimed excitedly for what seemed to be the millionth time that day.

"It's hard not to with you around, Greggo." Nick laughed. The younger CSI was definitely into the Christmas spirit. He had been wearing a Santa hat for that past two days, singing Christmas carols all the time, and was just all around Christmassy.

"What do you mean by that?" Greg asked, mock offended.

"He means you have great Christmas spirit he only wishes he had." Catherine smiled, joining in on the boys' conversation.

"Yeah, right." Warrick shook his head with a chuckle. "So what's everyone doing for Christmas anyways?"

"Well, seeing as I have to work on the twenty sixth… I can't go visit my family, so I'm just hanging out around my house." Nick shrugged not bothering to hide his disappointment.

"That's too bad Nick." Catherine commented. "Lindsay and I are just hanging out, nothing too out of the ordinary. What are you doing Greg?"

"Nothing, really." Greg shrugged.

"Nothing really? You, Mr. Christmas Spirit are doing nothing really on Christmas?" Catherine laughed.

"Well, I have nothing to do." He shrugged, trying to mask his disappointment with a goofy smile. "How about you, Warrick?"

"Same as you, Greg my man." Warrick answered. Just then a very tired Sara Sidle entered the break room.

"Hey Sara, what are you doing for Christmas?" Nick asked.

"Nothing." Sara answered like it was the most normal thing in the world. She didn't have a hint of disappointment on her face.

"You know, ever since you've worked here, I don't think I remember you ever once going home to visit your family." Nick observed. At this comment, Sara's eyes flashed angrily and she turned her attention to her coffee.

"Well, if no one's doing anything for Christmas, why don't we make some plans?" Greg suggested brilliantly. Nick and Warrick shrugged in agreement.

"Sure, as long as Lindsay can come along." Catherine nodded.

"Definitely, how about you Sara? You in?" Greg asked. Sara shook her head at the mention of her name. She had been spaced out, lost in memories of her childhood since Nick's questioning of her family.

"Um, sorry, what?" Sara asked, slightly embarrassed.

"Want to join us to hang out on Christmas?" Greg repeated.

"Uh, sure I guess." Sara nodded before turning back to her coffee and memories. She hoped that spending Christmas with her co-workers and friends would take her attention off the horrible memories of childhood Christmases that haunted her every year.

"Great!" Greg exclaimed with a silly grin on his face. He couldn't believe Sara had agreed to Christmas with them, it wasn't like her, but he sure didn't mind. "So what do we want to do?"

"Something really, really fun… but child appropriate." Catherine answered with a chuckle.

"Yeah… well, that certainly narrows down the field." Warrick smirked. Catherine hit him on the arm playfully.

"I have no idea." Nick shrugged.

"Ha! I got it!" Greg shouted, jumping out of his chair. He realized how loud he'd been and gave an embarrassed smile before sitting down and continuing. "That place… I forget what it's called. It's not too far from here, a few blocks over… dancing, living entertainment… there's a kids area too." He added for Catherine.

"I know where you mean, I've been there before." She nodded, "It would be great. What do you guys think?" Warrick and Nick nodded in agreement; they really didn't care where they went.

"Sara?" Greg asked.

"Sorry, what?" She had fallen back into her thoughts and wasn't paying attention.

"I'll pick you up around six, tomorrow, okay?" Greg told her.

"Yeah okay, sounds good." Sara nodded before leaving the room.

"What's up with her?" Warrick wondered aloud.

"I don't know, something big though. I mean, did Sara just willingly agree to hang out with us?" Nick laughed.

"Yeah, well, we'll have to find out, won't we?" Catherine announced.

"We'll find out tomorrow because right now, we've got to get back to work."

---------

A/N: Reviews? Suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated seeing as right now, I am very disappointed in how I'm writing this story… thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

A/N: Much thanks to everyone who reviewed! Sorry I am unbelievably slow with this story, I'll try to be better! On with it now…

------

The end of shift came too early in Sara's opinion. Everyone else couldn't wait for shift to end, they were all psyched about the Christmas holiday, enjoying themselves and having fun, but not Sara. She hated Christmas with a passion ever since she was a child. Even though that part of her life was gone now, she was a different person, and she hated thinking about it, holidays were still the worst time of year. Holidays for her when she had been younger, before she'd gone into foster care, not that it'd been much better mind you, just consisted of yelling and fighting more so than regular times of the year. The happy moods of everyone else in the world seemed to put Sara's parents into a horrible mood, thus making them angry with Sara, her brother, and each other, which brought on the fighting. Sara still expected Christmas to consist of screaming, hitting and things been thrown around at each other instead of presents, Santa and turkey dinners. She hated how everyone expected her to be as happy and joyful as they were this time of year, especially Greg. He was always complaining to her about how she was the Grinch because she wouldn't join in on singing the carols in the playful banter in which the rest of the lab would, and how she wouldn't show any compassion for the holidays at all. He didn't take the time to think that she may have a ligament reason for it, he didn't take the time to talk to her and help her enjoy the holidays, he just expected her to because he could. But of course, she reminded herself, she wouldn't have told him anything if he had asked and showed any interest anyways. She would have told him it was none of his business and to get back to work. And now? Now she had agreed subconsciously to do god knows what tomorrow with everyone, and she'd be expected to enjoy it. All she knew was that Greg was picking her up at six, and Nick wanted to know why she didn't go home to visit her family at Christmas. If he, or anyone else, was going to bring that up tomorrow, she'd leave right away. She wasn't going to spend Christmas telling her life story and receiving unwanted pity from her friends. That wasn't what the holidays were about. She'd have to find some way to enjoy it all by tomorrow, or she'd have to develop some sort of illness…

"Sara!" She heard Catherine call her from down the hall somewhere. She knew she was coming to talk to her, so she didn't bother responding. "Hey Sara." Catherine repeated as she entered the room.

"Hey." Sara mumbled, not taking her eyes off the folder she was studying.

"Excited for tomorrow?" Catherine tried to make some sort of conversation in which Sara might by chance let her help her with whatever was making her hate Christmas so much.

"I guess." Sara answered with a shrug, not wanting to talk about anything Christmas related, which sucked because that's all anyone else wanted to talk about.

"So do you know where we're going?" Catherine asked, the way Sara acted earlier, and how she was responding now wasn't like the usual alert Sara at all. She highly doubted she even heard where they were going, and wanted to know if she'd still come when she did.

"Nope." Sara admitted. She hoped it wasn't too wild, but she had heard the part of their conversation about Lindsay coming along, so she doubted it'd be that bad.

"We're going to that restaurant a few blocks over… neither Greg nor I can think of the name of it at the moment, but we've both been there before. There's usually a good band playing there, good food, great dancing, and they have a kid's area too, so Lindsay will like it as well." Catherine told her with an excited look.

"Sounds fun." Sara sighed, still trying to drive the bad memories and flashbacks out of her head which was hard with Catherine standing beside her reviewing their Christmas plans. "Well, I better go home now and rest up for tomorrow night, see you then." Sara told Catherine before shutting the folder and heading to the locker room. If Catherine wasn't convinced before that something was up with Sara, she was now. Sara had just willingly agreed to go to a place where she would most likely have to dance. How weird was that? Something was wrong, something was really, really bugging her, and Catherine was going to find out what it was.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

As Sara made her way to the locker room, Greg fell in step beside her. "So Sara, what are you doing tonight for Christmas Eve?" Greg asked, innocently enough, but it still made Sara's bad mood even worse. Why did he have to come and rub it in that he had plans, probably with his latest girlfriend, and she didn't?

"Nothing at all. How about you? Something exciting, I would suppose." She tried to sound as light as possible, but the words still sounded harsh.

"Well, if you call sitting at home alone, with some eggnog watching old Christmas movies exciting… then I'd guess you're right." He smiled.

"Oh, I naturally assumed you'd be hanging out with your girlfriend." Sara shrugged.

"We're not supposed to assume anything Sara, remember?" He smirked, "And besides, I don't have a girlfriend, and also, I was sort of wondering if maybe you'd want to join me in watching old Christmas movies tonight? That is, if nothing can wait until another night." Sara didn't say no right away like she usually would if Greg had asked her to go watch some movies at his apartment with him, but took the time to seriously consider the offer. It could take her mind off the awful memories Christmas Eve usually brought forth, and what harm could come of it, really?

"Sure, I guess so." She nodded, and Greg looked like someone had just told him he'd won a million dollars.

"Really? Alright! Well, do you want a ride then?" He excitedly asked.

"Sure." Sara smiled. By this time, they were in the locker room, and ready to head out.

"Let's go." Greg was practically bouncing up and down with excitement. Sara had just agreed to spend Christmas Eve with him at his apartment watching movies. He couldn't have asked for anything more.

----------

"Hey guys." Nick sighed as he entered the break room.

"Hey Nicky." Catherine smiled from the couch where she and Warrick were sitting.

"Hey Nick, what's up man?" Warrick asked, not taking his eyes off the TV screen.

"Nothing really… but have you guys noticed something really… off with Sara? She wasn't herself today on our case, you know?" He asked worriedly.

"Yeah, tell me about it. First, she agrees to spend Christmas with us, totally not Sara, and doesn't even protest when she finds out we're going somewhere that she'll most likely have to dance." Catherine informed Warrick and Nick.

"Yeah, and if I heard correctly, she just agreed to go spend Christmas Eve with Greg watching movies." Nick shook his head in disbelief.

"That is definitely not Sara… something's really bugging her." Warrick agreed, finally peeling away from the TV show and giving his friends his attention.

"Well, what could it possibly be?" Catherine wondered aloud as Grissom walked into the break room.

"What could what possibly be?" He inquired, heading to the coffee.

"Oh, we're just worried about Sara. Something's up with her… we don't know what it is, but something's wrong." Catherine told Gil.

"I wouldn't' worry about it too much." Grissom advised. He knew more about Sara and her past then anyone else did, in the lab anyway, and he figured that it was all the old family memories Christmas brought around the took her mind off the things she normally worried about, but it wasn't his place to share this information, so he'd just try to get his friends to lay off the questions because he knew they'd upset her.

"But Grissom, she agreed to go dancing with us tomorrow, and she is spending Christmas Eve with Greg watching movies." Nick explained the situation as if it were the end of the world.

"So she's not being a total workaholic like she usually is, and you guys are freaking out?" Grissom clarified.

"Uh, I guess so." Warrick shrugged. When Grissom put it that way, it seemed like they were being a bit harsh.

"And speaking of workaholics," Catherine smirked, "What are you doing for Christmas, Gil?"

"I'm um," Grissom tried to think of an excuse to what he was doing, when in truth, he didn't have plans as usual.

"That's what I thought." Catherine's smirk grew in size. "So why don't you join us and take some time off being a workaholic since Sara is as well?"

"Well, I don't know if it would be a good idea…" Grissom started to make up an excuse for not being able to go.

"Come on Gil, Lindsay would love to have you there." Catherine pleaded.

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to come." Grissom gave in.

"Yes!" Catherine exclaimed. "Hear that guys? Even our labs most devoted workaholics are going to have some fun on Christmas."

"Alert the press." Warrick joked. Catherine giggled and Nick shook his head. Catherine always giggled girlishly at Warrick's jokes, even when they weren't that funny, like that one for example. Maybe Christmas would help them get their feelings out in the open, or maybe he would help them.

"Well, I should get going home, I'm pretty tired." Nick announced.

"See you tomorrow Nick!" Catherine told him with a smile.

"Bye man." Warrick called as Nick turned to leave.

"I should get going too." Grissom announced. And with that, Warrick and Catherine were left alone in a silent break room.

"Walk you to your car?" Warrick suggested.

"Sure." Catherine smiled. They couldn't wait to see what Christmas brought, with both Gil and Sara going, and Sara being so unlike herself… it was bound to be one eventful Christmas.

--------

A/N: How was that? I hope it wasn't too bad. This story is sort of WAY behind the times now, haha, but ohwell.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! Yeah, I'll finish it… geeze I'm slow! I should get it done sometime… before the next major holiday haha, I guess I should pretty well start some Valentines Day fictions soon, then I might get them done within a few weeks of Valentines day…

--------

"So what movie did you have in mind?" Sara asked Greg who was driving down the streets of Las Vegas towards his apartment.

"It doesn't really matter, you can choose when we get there. I have lots." He smiled.

"I bet." Sara smiled as well, Greg was definitely into the Christmas spirit, so if anyone would have a vast collection of Christmas movies, it would be him, and if anyone could get her into the Christmas spirit and out of her memories, it would be him as well.

"Is everything okay with you Sara?" Greg asked after a moment of silence. He knew something was up because Sara wouldn't usually have given the thought of going to Greg's for a movie a second of thought, little lone a yes! There was something that was bothering her, and if it was anything Greg could help with, he was there.

"Yeah, everything's fine Greg." Sara answered quickly, making it obvious to anyone, especially a CSI that she was lying.

"Okay, just checking because you seemed a bit upset earlier… but never mind." Greg shrugged, not wanting to make Sara feel uncomfortable in any way. Sara didn't say anything. She didn't know whether she should follow her heart, and open up to Greg and let him help her like she knew he would, or if she should just do what she'd always done and kept everything to herself to deal with quietly. Greg pulled up to his apartment and they went inside. Greg took her coat and told her to make herself comfortable in the living room.

"Do you want a beer?" He called from the kitchen.

"Uh, sure." She answered, taking a mental note not to drink too much, because she didn't want to end up either spilling secrets she didn't intend on spilling, or ending up in a rather compromising position.

"Here you go." He smiled, placing a beer on the coffee table in front of where Sara was sitting on the couch. "Do you know what movie you want to watch?" He asked.

"No, you can choose one, it doesn't matter." Sara shrugged, and let herself get lost in her thoughts. She really wanted to tell Greg what was bugging her, she in a way needed to, but she didn't know if he'd like her at all anymore after she did. She was brought out of her thoughts when she felt Greg sit down next to her, not to close to be uncomfortable, but close enough to make the couch dip slightly and bring her out of her thoughts. She tried to focus on the TV but she couldn't. "Greg…" She whispered, hoping he wouldn't care that she was interrupting the movie.

"Yeah Sara?" He answered, turning to face her, hoping she was going to tell him what was bothering her so much.

"I don't want to interrupt the movie but…" She started, then paused, not sure what to say.

"Its fine Sara, I've seen the movie millions of times." Greg smiled encouragingly. The truth was, with Sara on the same couch as him in his apartment, he wasn't concentrating much on the movie anyways.

"Okay. Well, you remember before when you asked if anything was bothering me…"

"Yeah." Greg nodded, hoping she'd tell him because he'd do anything in the world to help her. He reached over and turned the volume on the TV down a bit to show her she had his full attention.

"Well… there is… and I don't know I don't really like talking about it, I'm not sure why, it's really dumb when I think about it…" Sara tried to find a logical way to explain to Greg why she despised Christmas so much… but she wasn't having any luck.

"Sara, you can tell me anything." Greg reassured her with a smile.

"I know… it's just, I never know how to say it. Okay," She took a deep breath before continuing, "See the thing is… when I was little, I didn't have the best childhood. My parents were always fighting, and sometimes I'd get in the middle of it all. At first it was just arguing, yelling, all verbal, but after a while, my parents would beat each other up and we'd be at the hospital a lot… but there was never any help, there was never a way out. The lies kept building and by the time I realized it wasn't normal, I thought I would get in trouble for going along with the lies, so I kept quiet." Sara paused to let a few tears slip down her cheeks which Greg wanted nothing more than to wipe away, but he didn't want to make Sara feel uncomfortable, especially since she was obviously telling him a very big secret that explained most of her life. "Then one day, my Mom figured a way out, unfortunately, the way out led to a life of foster care for me. I was twelve when my mother stabbed my father to death in front of me." Sara sobbed uncontrollably now. She couldn't help it, she needed to let it all out. Greg moved closer and pulled her to him knowing she needed to feel loved. It made him so angry to think that such a beautiful and amazing person such as Sara had to grow up and experience such horrible things at such a young age. It made him sick to think about it, and even sicker when he thought about how Hank especially, and even Grissom added to the pain of it all.

"Sara I'm sorry, I never would have known…" Greg whispered, trying to make her feel better.

"It's okay Greg, it's all over now, I don't know why I bother cry about it… it's all done, there's nothing I can do, there's nothing you can do." Sara shrugged, but couldn't stop crying.

"I can make sure you don't get hurt anymore." Greg whispered. She didn't know exactly what he meant by that, but for some reason, hearing it from Greg made her feel safe and comfortable, more so than she'd felt in a long time. "I can make sure that no one gets to hurt you or uses you like he did." Greg continued. Sara knew he was talking about Hank, which made her want to start sobbing again, but she didn't. Hank was in the past now, and she needed to move on, just like she needed to move on from Grissom… still.

"Thanks." Sara managed to say to Greg through her still steady stream of tears.

"For what Sara? I didn't do anything, I just listened." Greg pointed out.

"Exactly." She smiled. She reached over and grabbed the remote, turning the movie back up to the volume that they could hear what the characters were saying. Within a few minutes, Sara had fallen asleep with her head on Greg's shoulder and as much as Greg didn't want to go to sleep, because he would have much preferred to lay there and admire Sara and how especially beautiful she looked with a tear stained sleep laden face, he fell asleep within a few minutes as well.

---------

A/N: Okay, so I know, it's a bit … (maybe a bit more than a bit) out of character, but it's just a fluffy little piece of Christmas fun. More to come soon! What are everyone's thoughts?


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

A/N: Thanks to everyone that's been reviewing, the reviews are greatly appreciated, and yeah, this is just going to be a major sandle fluff story haha, so enjoy it, and I will try and get this finished off soon… but I've been so distracted haha I always am.

--------

When Sara woke hours later, alarm bells immediately went off in her head. She wasn't in her apartment, and she wasn't alone. Opening her eyes, she saw Greg beside her, on his couch, and sighed in relief, the events previous to falling asleep flooding back into her head. She had confided in Greg, and voluntarily too. That was the first time she'd ever told anyone about her past when it was vitally necessary, like telling the various physiatrists over the years, of course, the police officers when she was twelve and her mother was being taken off to jail, and of course Grissom when she was going to lose her job if she didn't give an explanation for her actions. She somehow had hoped that if Grissom understood her better, if he knew more about her, he'd somehow figure out that he loved her, and that he wanted to be with her, but he didn't, he still hadn't. Even if he did love her, or like her at that, she didn't think he'd do anything about it anyways, that was just the way Grissom was. She'd decided that long ago, but she still couldn't get over him, no matter how hard she tried, but now there was Greg. She was getting closer and closer to Greg all the time, it seemed, and now with these latest developments, she realized just how much she trusted him.

"Sara?" She heard Greg incoherently mumble. He was just waking up as well, coming to the same realizations as Sara.

"Hey Greg." Sara smiled, trying to hold in a giggle.

"Ugh, I don't think I've ever woken up so sore from such a good sleep." He complained.

"Yeah, I feel your pain, Greggo." Sara smiled.

"I guess were both a little too big to sleep on this couch, little lone together." Greg pointed out, smiling as well.

"Yeah, I guess. Breakfast?" Sara suggested.

"Sounds good to me. How hungry are you?" Greg asked, getting up and heading into the kitchen.

"Starving." Sara laughed.

"Me too, let's go out." Greg decided after reaching his kitchen and surveying its contents.

"Good idea, and by the way Greggo?" Sara tried hard not to burst out laughing at Greg's odd morning state.

"What?" Greg wondered.

"Merry Christmas!" Sara giggled. She couldn't believe that Greg had forgotten it was Christmas. She had at first as well, but this was Greg, Mr. Christmas, how could he have forgotten right away? Greg looked completely shocked. How had he _forgotten _today was Christmas right away? Christmas, his favourite holiday of the year! He had been so distracted by the fact he had woken up, and fallen asleep, next to Sara, and she trusted him enough to tell him things like what she had told him last night, it had just slipped his mind. It was then he realized it. He loved Sara more than he loved Christmas, which was more than anything in the world. He knew he was in love with her before, but he figured it was something he could get over in time because she'd never love him back, but how could love this strong be ignored? Would he have to spend his entire life hurting once Sara found someone that she loved?

"I can't believe I forgot!" Greg exclaimed, earning another giggle from Sara.

"Oh well, you remember now." She shrugged. "Still up for breakfast?"

"Definitely." Greg smiled. How would he not be up for anything that involved spending time with Sara?

"Pancakes okay for a Christmas breakfast?" Sara asked with a smile. She wasn't going to let Greg forget that he had forgotten Christmas anytime soon.

"Sounds great." Greg nodded anything Sara suggested sounded great to him.

"What time are we meeting everyone today?" She asked as she got the ingredients for pancakes out of Greg's cupboards.

"Six thirty." Greg called from down the hall, "I'm just going to have a shower, okay?"

"Sure." Sara nodded, getting out the ingredients for pancakes and starting to mix them together in a bowl. She wasn't exactly looking forward tonight, but in a way, she was. She hadn't been thinking about her past as much since she'd talked to Greg, he made her feel safe, and loved, and she was looking forward to spending Christmas with him, and everyone else. She just might let herself go and have some fun for the heck of it. She needed to stop being so uptight or she'd never be able to move on with her life.

--------

"I didn't know you could cook." Greg laughed as he emerged from the bathroom fully dressed and ready for Christmas.

"Yet you still agreed to eat the food I cooked. Brave." Sara smiled before adding, "Nice outfit." He was clad in black dress pants, a red shirt and a Christmas tie. "Very festive."

"I try." Greg smiled. "Now let's eat, I'm hungrier than ever."

"Alright." Sara nodded, sitting down across from Greg, still in her clothes from the previous day, and they devoured the large stack of pancakes together.

"Not only can you cook, you cook amazingly. Those were the best pancakes ever."

"Thanks," Sara laughed, "Well, I should get going I guess, I want to change, shower…" She gestured to her wrinkled, worn clothes.

"Yeah," Greg was sad that they're time together was ending for now, but he knew that he'd see her again in another couple of hours; "I can drive you home, and then pick you up again at six okay?"

"Sure thanks. I forgot you drove me here." Sara smiled. "I had a really had a good time hanging out with you Greg, and thanks for being there and listening when I needed it."

"No problem, it was my pleasure." Greg smiled, giving Sara a hug and grabbing his keys on the way out the door.

--------

A/N: bah! Is everyone still in the Christmas spirit? Haha we've got some Christmas partying coming up here! Intense! I'll try not to take sooo long in between updates, I've been so busy lately!


End file.
